Book lover, collector, and reviewer
This has been on my TBR list for a while… I must have heard about it on one of the Facebook reading groups I frequent, and I’m glad I did. I just wish I had gotten to this one sooner. Translated from Japanese to English, this is the story of 36-year-old Keiko Furukura, who lives … Read More “Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata” »
The publisher describes this book as “Upstairs, Downstairs meets Parasite,” which does well in explaining the class issues examined here, although it doesn’t quite describe the full racial undertones within this book, which adds a new dimension to this theme. August Sitwell has dedicated his life to the Barclays since he was a teenager when they “rescued” … Read More “The Rib King by Ladee Hubbard” »
There is so much to say about this book, and I highly recommend that you take a chance on it. As a former English major, I just want to dissect and analyze the whole thing, but I’ll try to keep this short(er.) I think this is an important contemporary book, especially for right now, even … Read More “Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars. by Joyce Carol Oates” »
Liza, Maggie, and Tricia are the Sweeney Sisters, very different adult sisters dealing with the unexpected death of their father, famous author William Sweeney. While dealing with the memorial and estate, they are shocked to discover they have a fourth sister, Serena, who lived next door while they were growing up and is now an … Read More “The Sweeney Sisters by Lian Dolan” »
This book is told in a dual time frame, with Elaine’s story set in London during World War II and Jen’s story set in present-day Spain. Elaine is a typist for the military, typing letters written by POWs and looking for secret messages, when she meets — and falls deeply in love with — famed … Read More “The Forgotten Girls by Lizzie Page” »
Answer Creek tells the story of Ada Weeks, a fictional 19-year-old adopted daughter of an undertaker and his wife, who treks across the United States with the fated (and real) Donner Party. If you know anything about the Donner Party, you have a good overview of what happens in this book, although it goes on … Read More “Answer Creek by Ashley E. Sweeney” »
I really enjoyed this book, and I especially liked the author’s next-level writing style, which almost seemed itself musical with parts of the book that were smooth and easy, rising into crescendos that pushed David and Ameena’s relationship almost to its limits. Ameena, a Pakistani-Muslim writer by day and artist by night, left her home … Read More “David and Ameena by Ami Rao” »
This book has been on my TBR list since it was released, but it took my book club choosing it for our June book to move it up on my list, and I’m so glad I did. This was an understated and haunting novel about a family split apart when their teenage twins disappear and … Read More “The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett” »
This my first experience reading anything by Claire Keegan, but I was very impressed. Sometimes the quietist book can send the biggest message, and this is a clear (deserved) condemnation of the Catholic church in Ireland. Set in a small village in Ireland just before Christmas in the mid-1980s, when many people are out of … Read More “Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan” »
Sister Evelyn became a Catholic nun after her father made a vow that if his son (her brother) came back alive from the war, he would give his youngest daughter to God, and she never realized that she could make a different decision for herself. After a tough beginning, Evelyn founded Mercy House with two … Read More “Mercy House by Alena Dillon” »